Tuesday, November 17, 2015

What Kind of King Are You? - Lectionary Reflection for Reign of Christ Sunday

33 Then Pilate entered the
headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of
the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on
your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35 Pilate
replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have
handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus
answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this
world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the
Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate
asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For
this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

********

It has
been said that despite its faults, democracy is the best governmental system
available. It’s not always efficient, but it allows the populace to get
involved. Occasionally we will see attempts to update our theological language
and cast Jesus and God in the modern clothes of democracy. Thus, we get Jesus
the President rather than Jesus the King. The only problem with Jesus the
President is that we didn’t get to elect him to the position. Rather God elects
Jesus to reign. As this is Christ the King Sunday (Reign of Christ), we are
invited to ponder what it means for Christ to be king (not president). The Gospel reading comes from John. While this
is the last Sunday of the Church Year (next week we start all over with the
first Sunday of Advent), the Gospel reading takes us to Good Friday. Jesus has
been arrested and he is being questioned by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Pilate
represents the reigning power—the emperor of Rome, Tiberius. Now there are
kings of sort in the empire, people like Herod Antipas, but they derive their
power from Rome. In other words, they’re really Roman governors with a fancier
title. Pilate is of the understanding that Jesus has been claiming the title of
king, and has been doing so without the permission of Rome. So Pilate wants to
know: what kind of king are you?

The
problem as Pilate sees it is that if someone claims to be a king without
gaining permission from the imperial court they could be a threat to Rome’s
power. As governor it is his responsibility to make sure the populace remains
under control. Pretenders to an ancient throne can be a problem. A restive
populace could gather around them and revolt. If that happened Pilate would
have to unleash his troops, and it would likely lead to his removal from
office. But if Jesus has no following, then he can easily dispense with him and
move on. With this in mind Pilate begins questioning Jesus. Indeed, Pilate may
see all of this as an annoyance—just another pretender with no real following,
and obviously no military capability.

Pilate
asks Jesus: “Are you the king of the Jews?” The question leads to a
conversation that Pilate isn’t prepared for. It’s a theological conversation
rather than a geopolitical one. Though it’s important to note that theology and
politics generally ran hand in hand. After all, the Emperor was understood to
be divine in some form. If Jesus is son of God, well so is Caesar.

Jesus
doesn’t come outright and admit to being the king of the Jews, but he does accept
the premise that he is a representative of the heavenly kingdom. He tells Pilate that if he must know, Jesus
is a king, but his “kingdom doesn’t originate from this world.” Too often Christians have read these words in
such a way as to devalue earthly experience.
There is a tendency among some Christians to think of the faith in terms
of escaping this world for the next. Therefore,
Jesus would be talking about heaven and not earth. But is that what Jesus has in mind here?

John
doesn’t provide us with a version of the Lord’s Prayer, but if we take a look
at the prayer than many of us recite each week, we pray “Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.” It is not that Jesus has a heavenly kingdom that is of no earthly
value, but that whatever the heavenly kingdom is, it has an earthly component.

Jūrgen Moltmann writes of Jesus’
statement about the kingdom not being of this world, suggesting that Jesus
speaks of origin not location. According
to Moltmann, Jesus is saying:

It comes from God. If it didn’t come from God it couldn’t heal
the sick of this world. But in and
through Jesus it is in the midst of the world, and when Jesus said these words
the Kingdom of God in person was standing in front of Rome’s imperial governor,
Pontius Pilate. [Moltmann, Jesus Christ for Today,p. 20].

Moltmann goes on to say that while this
kingdom has both invisible and visible dimensions, it is “as earthly as Jesus
himself was.” It is revealed through and
implanted through the cross and the resurrection, and the resulting message is
that “the earth is worth it.” This is
not a vision of escape, but being by present in and through the world, Christ works
to redeem and transform it. As king,
Jesus says, his purpose is to bear witness to the truth. Pilate might want to debate the notion of
truth, but Jesus reveals it in his being, for truth is the realm of God
revealed in his life here on earth as well as in heaven.

What
then is our response to Jesus’ claim to rule?
What difference does it make?
What claim is made on our allegiance?
Pilate is concerned about whether Jesus is a threat to Rome. He has no
problem with Jesus claiming to be king if he will agree to put his flag under
that of Rome, even as many churches appear to do when they fly the American
flag high over their buildings, so that all will know that even they claim to
follow Jesus they pledge their allegiance to the flag and its republic. When
church and state merge such that the church reflects the values of the state,
values such as militarism and “love it or leave it” patriotism, when the Bible
become an icon of the state, used by the state as the guarantee of oaths, then
there’s no problem.

The
problem of Pilate is that Jesus is claiming to be a king without permission
from Rome, and that he is claiming to have been born for this purpose (remember
that we will be moving quickly into the story of birth). He incarnates the
realm of God in a way that Pilate cannot understand, for his vision is clouded
by the idea that might makes right. It is a vision that those who claim to be
super powers often indulge in. But Jesus offers an alternative vision. And
those who belong to the truth will listen to his voice. When all is said and
done, they will give their ultimate allegiance to the realm of God— “on earth
as it is in heaven.” With this affirmation we bring the church year to a
conclusion. The circle is complete. Christ reigns. Hallelujah!

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About Me

I am a Disciples of Christ pastor, theologian, community activist, historian, teacher. I'm a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. I'm the author of a number of books including Marriage in Interesting Times (Energion, 2016) and Freedom in Covenant (Wipf and Stock, 2015).